By Nivedita Balu
TORONTO (Reuters) -Canadians are trading their annual vacation south of the border for road trips around Ottawa, the midnight sun in Yukon, whale watching in Nova Scotia or hiking in Banff.
The newfound desire to stay local started earlier this year when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to annex Canada and imposed a series of tariffs on Canadian goods, spurring a ‘Buy Canadian’ movement to boycott U.S. businesses and avoid traveling to the U.S.
London, Ontario-based Guess Where Trips sells curated mystery road trip packages in four Canadian provinces and reported a 75% increase in sales of trips across the country so far this year from a year ago.
“It is clear that more Canadians are choosing to explore small businesses and hidden gems close to home, rather than crossing the border for their holidays and vacations,” operations manager Jessica Bax said.
Road trips around Ottawa are among their most popular packages, Bax said, as more Canadians explore their capital city.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has also made a pitch for Canadians to take advantage of a new “Canada Strong” pass that grants free or discounted access to several national parks, historic sites and museums this summer.
“Canadians are making choices to visit this great country, spend time here with their family, with their friends. They’re making choices to buy Canadian products,” he said in a press briefing in Huntsville, Ontario on Tuesday.
The discount pass contrasts with Trump ordering higher entrance fees at U.S. national parks for visitors from other countries.
A Bank of Canada survey this week showed that 55% of Canadians plan to spend less money vacationing in the United States this year while 35% said they would spend more on traveling within Canada. A survey by TD Bank showed 64% of Canadians polled planned to travel within the country, mirroring an increase in domestic flight bookings.
Canadian domestic tourism spending rose 4% in the first quarter this year from a year earlier, said Destination Canada, a government agency that promotes Canadian tourism. The number of flight return trips from the United States made by Canadians fell 17% in May from a year earlier, while the number of such trips made by car fell by 37% that month, according to Statistics Canada.
Walter Flower, who operates whale watching tours in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, said he has been busier this year as more people exploring the UNESCO World Heritage town booked a 45-minute ocean adventure hoping to spot whales off the east coast.
Divya Mohan, a communications specialist in Toronto, says she had initially planned to go to Texas this year but instead opted to explore the city of Winnipeg in Manitoba.
“It just felt like the timing wasn’t right… may be in the future,” Mohan, 39, said of her trip in April.
“Winnipeg is just one more destination in Canada to explore,” Mohan said, coming away impressed with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
On the west coast in British Columbia, RVs have gained popularity, said Storm Jespersen, a regional manager at family-owned tourism firm Evergreen Hospitality Group.
“This year is going to be the busiest year in our company’s history across our 26 properties… it’s so busy, I don’t think you can even rent one (RV) very easily right now,” said Jespersen.
WORTH THE BUCK
Traveling in Canada can be expensive as domestic flights to remote locations often cost more than traveling to the United States or even Europe. But travelers have found ways to do it cheaper – through road trips or by hunting for discounts.
“Doing road trips or just weekend trips to a cabin nearby is a great way to switch things up without spending thousands of dollars to fly a family of four across the country and back,” said Vancouver-based marketing executive Kramer Solinsky.
On his list this year, Solinsky plans to visit Montreal and the east coast for the first time and is traveling to Mexico City and Osaka in Japan instead of other sun-soaked options like Florida and California.
To make some remote regions in northern Canada more accessible, Air North – the airline for the northern provinces of Yukon and Northwest Territories – added more capacity and non-stop routes for the summer, betting on higher demand from what it said was “clear and growing interest among Canadians in exploring more of their own country”
Air North said arrivals to Yukon rose 7.6% from January to June this year and the airline continues to see growth in demand for flights to northern Canada.
Other Canadian carriers have reported similar trends: Porter Airlines increased its summer network capacity to domestic travel to 80% from 75%, while peer WestJet in May suspended nine routes between Canada and the United States citing lower demand.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Additional reporting by Promit Mukherjee in Ottawa; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Deepa Babington)
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